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Victoria Street in the early 1970s was the scene of one of Sydneyʹs most sustained and vicious development battles. Locals like Mick (who lived at Number 115 and camped on rooftops defying police and buildersʹ assaults) and Juanita Nielsen were joined by the Building Labourers Federation and other unions, and urban conservationists, using green bans,protests, site occupations, squatting and blockades to save the street from being completely redeveloped into high‐ rise. By 1974, frustrated developers, often with government support, were resorting to massive intimidation and force,launching assaults on squatter‐held buildings.

Fowler's plight became a cause célèbre for the green ban movement when, with the help of some fifty comrades, he repossessed and barricaded the property.

He formed 'The Green Ban'd' and recorded Green Bans Forever (1975). 'The Battle of Victoria Street' lasted for three years, and involved court challenges, harassment and confrontations between green ban militants and security personnel retained by Theeman's Victoria Point Pty.Ltd. He was eventually evicted from his home after a legal judgement against him in May 1976.

Mick died in 1979 and over seven hundred mourners in Sydney heard tributes from former comrades as the cortège, accompanied by a jazz band, stopped outside his old address in Victoria Street en route to Eastern Suburbs crematorium.